What the System Can Do to Great Teachers

The public school system, in particular, with their draconian rules and regulations, have no trouble letting go of great teachers for the most obscure reasons. This is but one example of my theory that some schools just don’t seem to deserve great teachers. If they did, they would be treated better than this:

Parents of preschoolers at a St Louis school say their kids have been heartbroken after losing one of their favorite teachers.

Kelly Hahn was put on leave from Wilkinson Early Childhood Center last December, just two weeks after being named the St Louis Public School district’s ‘Pre-K Teacher of the Year.’

Fox2Now reports that children were coming home in tears after learning their favorite teacher was gone, and a rumor spread that Hahn had been diagnosed with cancer.

‘She is one of those people that I would say is the glue that holds Wilkinson together,’ PTO President Dana Evans told KMOV.

But sadness turned to anger after parents learned that Hahn had received a letter saying she’d been dismissed for child neglect and endangerment, which parents say stemmed from an incident over a diaper.

A three-year-old had come to school one day in a pull-up diaper, which is against the rules at Wilkinson.

After Hahn discovered the diaper, she let the child keep it on instead of removing it, and simply notified the parents.

Another teacher notified Missouri Department of Family Services, which conducted an investigation that found no signs of neglect.

St Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams says that the district has separate standards of conduct, though he did not comment specifically on Hahn.